JP7273787B2 - Antenna modules and vehicles - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an antenna module, a vehicle control unit and a vehicle comprising such an antenna module and such a control unit.

IEEE802.11p compliant V2X communication is currently in the development and market introduction phase. Intelligent Antenna Modules (IAMs), ie, the combination of antenna radiators and receivers in one unit, are prior art in various communication technologies. It is also known to use satellite navigation for positioning.

Currently, a so-called one-box concept is commonly used for V2X communication. This means that all necessary electronics are mounted in one unit and only the passive antenna is connected to get a functional V2X communication system. However, in principle, such a system cannot achieve a synergistic effect with other functions in the vehicle.

A so-called two-box concept is ideally used to improve synergy. In this case, for example, a transceiver for V2X communication is mounted on an intelligent antenna module, which intelligent antenna module with an arithmetic unit for further processing is connected via the vehicle bus. One example is a common CAN bus.

Such an implementation makes it possible to keep high frequency technology away from the integrated unit.

However, vehicle bus data rates have been found to be relatively high and associated high costs. Also, it is difficult to perform positioning and time synchronization in such implementations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an antenna module, a control unit and a vehicle which are improved, for example with respect to the above-mentioned problems.

This is achieved by the antenna module, the control unit and the vehicle according to the independent claims, respectively. Advantageous aspects can be found, for example, from the respective dependent claims. The content of the claims is incorporated into the content of the present specification by specific reference.

The present invention relates to antenna modules. An antenna module comprises an antenna. The antenna notably receives and optionally also transmits V2X messages and possibly other communications. An example of an antenna is the radiator itself, especially in the physical sense.

The antenna module further comprises a receiving unit connected with the antenna and configured to receive V2X messages using the antenna. In other words, the receiving unit may for example be arranged to receive radio signals received by the antenna and convert them into computable messages.

The antenna module further comprises a bus interface connected with the receiving unit for outputting V2X messages to the vehicle bus. This allows V2X messages to be distributed via the vehicle bus within the vehicle. One example is the CAN bus.

According to the invention, the receiving unit is arranged to pre-process the received V2X message, so that only a part of the received V2X message is output to the vehicle bus.

Due to the implementation according to the invention, the number of messages to be transmitted via the vehicle bus is significantly reduced, especially compared to implementations in which all messages received by the antenna, i.e. converted by the receiving unit, are output to the vehicle bus. is reduced to

Various approaches are already known for the pretreatment. Here, for example, it may be checked whether each of the messages is related to the vehicle, for example based on the information about the location and time of the message or the vehicle and the type of the message and the type of information contained. . For example, if a message regarding emergency braking or course or speed of a moving vehicle clearly originates from the own vehicle, ie on a road on which the vehicle is not traveling, the message may be discarded. Also, old messages by themselves may be discarded if they are no longer relevant due to the passage of time.

Preferably, the receiving unit is arranged to base the pre-processing at least on location information and/or time information. This allows, for example, filtering out messages irrelevant to the own vehicle based solely on the fact that the location is different or too far away and/or the information is out of date.

According to one development, the antenna module has a transmission unit, which is connected with the antenna and the bus interface, and transmits V2X messages received by the bus interface without modification using the antenna. The antenna module thereby has a general transmission function, ie it can thereby be assigned to the vehicle electronics to transmit an already completed message without modification. By transmitting the message unchanged, in particular it is achieved that the security requirements on the antenna module are significantly lower than if the message were to be further modified in the antenna module. For example, ASIL authentication may not be required.

It should be noted that the antenna module may basically be configured such that the message can be changed. On the other hand, however, this may require a higher security level, ie additional costs to obtain the necessary security, if required.

Preferably, the transmitting unit constitutes a transceiver unit together with the receiving unit. This allows for a compact implementation and the duplication of components when required.

According to one preferred aspect, the location information and/or the time information are obtained from the V2X message to be transmitted. This avoids the need to perform a separate location or time determination and ensures that pre-processing is performed using the same location information that is also used for transmitting V2X messages. Discrepancies can thereby be avoided. In particular, location information and/or time information is included by the header of the V2X message to be sent. Thus, filtering of incoming V2X messages can be based on header information of V2X messages already to be sent and/or incoming V2X messages.

According to one preferred aspect, the antenna module comprises a satellite navigation module. This allows the antenna modules to independently determine location. This may be provided, for example, in other components in the vehicle. The antenna module may for example be configured such that there is a central and/or single positioning unit in the vehicle, in particular using satellite navigation.

According to a development, the antenna module comprises a time reference unit adapted to manage a reference time synchronized with satellite signals and to supply the reference time via the vehicle bus. This makes it possible to avoid transmission of time reference signals, for example 1 PPS (1 pulse per second) signals, as commonly occur in satellite navigation signals, from the antenna module via the vehicle bus to other vehicle components. . Conversely, the antenna module itself may provide a time reference, possibly synchronizing it with other clocks or time sources present in the vehicle.

Preferably, the antenna module is configured as an intelligent antenna module. The antenna module may be configured as a self-contained unit for vehicle roof mounting. This facilitates integration into continuous production and replacement if necessary. The antenna module may, for example, be waterproof and/or dust-proof encapsulated.

The invention further relates to a vehicle control unit. The control unit has a bus interface for connecting with the vehicle bus. The control unit further comprises a data processing unit configured to process V2X messages received by the antenna module according to the invention via the vehicle bus.

The control unit is therefore ideal for cooperating with the antenna module according to the invention. In particular, the control unit may be configured not to process V2X messages. This is already taken care of by the antenna module, as already described in detail.

The implementation of the control unit according to the invention makes it possible to eliminate the need for high-frequency components and thus allows a much better integration with other functions.

Preferably, the data processing unit is arranged to transmit V2X messages via the vehicle bus for transmission to the antenna module. Thus, the full functionality of V2X communication can be realized with the data processing unit or with the cooperation of the data processing unit and the antenna module according to the invention.

According to one development, the data processing unit is arranged to determine the location using satellite navigation and/or vehicle sensor systems and insert it into the V2X message to be transmitted. Here, for example, the data processing unit may perform position determinations applied by other methods. In this case, for example, it may be based on satellite navigation signals, which may also be received by the antenna module and transmitted to the control unit. The location or location information may be inserted in particular in the header of each V2X message. In this case, the location may be read out by the antenna module and used for pre-processing, for example.

Preferably, the data processing unit and/or other components of the control unit may also be configured for other tasks such as V2X communication and navigation. In this case, for example, it may concern various vehicle control tasks or driver assistance systems.

The control unit may in particular be implemented without radio-frequency components, ie without a transmitting unit and/or a receiving unit and/or a transceiver unit. This facilitates integration.

The invention further relates to a vehicle comprising an antenna module according to the invention and a control unit according to the invention. The antenna module according to the invention and the control unit according to the invention may be based on all embodiments and variants described herein. The vehicle further comprises a vehicle bus. The antenna module and the control unit are connected with the vehicle bus using their respective bus interfaces.

The vehicle according to the invention makes it possible to achieve the above advantages.

Preferably, the antenna module is configured as described above with respect to providing the time reference, and some components of the vehicle are synchronized with the reference time of the antenna module. This advantageously provides a vehicle-wide time reference, as described above. This also reduces the data load on the bus.

More generally, an intelligent antenna module for V2X communication is proposed, which for example can be used with a very simple and typical bus system. On the other hand, in order to keep costs as low as possible, the computation time required in the intelligent antenna module is as short as possible. For this purpose, a microcontroller, which is as small as possible, may be used in the intelligent antenna module, whose role is, among other things, to operate the drivers for the transceivers and to supply the V2X information to the vehicle bus. Further parts of the V2X stack typically operate with other vehicle controllers or control units.

Pre-processing of the V2X data may be performed to reduce bus loading. The important information here is especially the self-location. This may be determined, for example, from the headers of Basic Safety Messages (BSM) or Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM) to be sent. Here, for example, it may concern periodic V2X messages transmitted at about 10 Hz. While the message or notification itself may be created entirely in the vehicle controller, in the intelligent antenna module preferably only the transmission of the message is done via the transceiver using the driver. The position itself may be determined at the vehicle controller. Various sensor information may be combined for this purpose. In this case, it may also concern, for example, wheel speed sensors, inertial measurement unit (IMU) information, steering wheel angle, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) information or other information.

Preferably, a GNSS receiver is also present in the intelligent antenna module, while a tracker, for example, is sufficient as the position is computed in the vehicle controller, where tight coupling may be used. . On the other hand, the time information is also useful for pre-processing, ideally a GNSS receiver is implemented with so-called 1PPS signals. To prevent this signal from being transmitted using a dedicated signal line to the vehicle controller, for example, the time synchronization of the entire vehicle can be done in an intelligent antenna module and/or the intelligent antenna module can be used for the rest of the vehicle. It may be used as a clock master. In this case, the provision of time information is possible using, for example, AUTOSAR version 4.2.

Advantageously, the intelligent antenna modules described herein have very limited security needs. Since V2X messages are typically already protected by a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and pre-processing only removes the messages but does not modify them, they are typically protected by intelligent antenna modules and vehicle controls. No additional protection of the communication path to and from the device is required. Satellite navigation also traditionally lacks security, but if there is satellite security, security may be maintained for transmissions up to the controller as well. For that purpose, simply "standard" bus security may be used.

Regarding the functional safety of V2X communication, the concept described here is that the integrated antenna module may be seen as a transparent data channel in the described configuration, for example, and thus this chaining information on ASIL It has the advantage that no special requirements for the parts have to be made. Since data processing in accordance with ASIL in relation to functional safety takes place in the vehicle control device or control unit, this control device or control unit is preferably developed according to the corresponding regulations. The location for pre-processing may be obtained via the CAM or BSM header, among others.

The described antenna modules or intelligent antenna modules may, for example, include further functional technologies. For example, the antenna module or intelligent antenna module may be used for satellite navigation, telephony or Internet access. For this, it may be based on known techniques.

The antenna modules or intelligent antenna modules described herein typically perform only a few tasks and may be interfaced with the vehicle bus using a small microcontroller. A small microcontroller makes it easy to meet the high temperature requirements of intelligent antenna modules, and limited mounting space is generally not an obstacle. Due to the above-mentioned few tasks of the intelligent antenna module or microcontroller in the antenna module, the intelligent antenna module or antenna module may be provided with a simple operating system. For example, AUTOSAR may be used for this purpose. In this case, even complex operating systems and very high-performance computing units may be used in the vehicle controller or control unit, without the limitations regarding temperature and mounting space in the intelligent antenna module.

Furthermore, it is simply possible to have the antenna module or the intelligent antenna module and the vehicle control developed by different companies simply because external standards send the described notifications or messages via the vehicle bus. , since no further notifications need to be defined for preprocessing.

Although the invention is described herein with respect to vehicles, it should be understood that it may be used in principle in other applications such as rail vehicles, automated guideway passenger transport systems, ships or aircraft. be.

It should also be understood that the approaches described herein for the antenna module and the control unit may also be interpreted as method aspects of each method according to the invention. The invention also includes such methods in all variations. The invention also includes a non-volatile computer-readable medium containing program code for executing such methods by a processor in its implementation.

Further features and advantages will be read by those skilled in the art from the example embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings below.

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle according to the invention comprising an antenna module according to the invention and a control unit according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle 10 only schematically. Furthermore, four satellites 20, 21, 22, 23 are shown only schematically. Here we are concerned with satellites in general of a satellite navigation system, eg GPS. Satellites 20, 21, 22, 23 emit signals at all times, the signals can be used to determine the location of vehicle 10, and the signals provide a global reference time.

Vehicle 10 includes a control unit 30 . The control unit 30 comprises a data processing unit 32 and a bus interface 34 .

Vehicle 10 further comprises an antenna module 40 . The present description relates to an intelligent antenna module constructed as an independent unit and mounted on a vehicle roof, which is not described in detail.

Antenna module 40 comprises a receiving unit 42 . Antenna module 40 further comprises a transmitting unit 43 .

The receiving unit 42 and the transmitting unit 43 together constitute a transceiver unit.

Antenna module 40 comprises a bus interface 44 .

Further, the antenna module 40 has an antenna 46 arranged to be able to receive radio signals outside the vehicle 10 and transmit radio signals to the surroundings of the vehicle 10 .

Finally, antenna module 40 comprises satellite navigation module 47 and time base unit 48 .

Both the bus interfaces 34, 44 of the control unit 30 or the antenna module 40 are connected to each other via a vehicle bus 50 of the vehicle 10, which is shown schematically, as shown. Here we are concerned with a typical CAN bus in a vehicle. Therefore, the bus interfaces 34, 44 are capable of exchanging data.

When radio waves containing V2X messages are received by the antenna 46 , this is detected by the receiving unit 42 . The receiving unit 42 is configured to generate a V2X message based on such received radio waves, the V2X message being computer readable.

The receiving unit 42 is further arranged to perform pre-processing. To this end, the receiving unit 42 verifies how old the V2X message is and whether the V2X message is generally related to the vehicle 10 based on the location information contained therein related to the current location of the vehicle 10. do. If the receiving unit 42 concludes that the corresponding V2X message is not related to the vehicle 10, the V2X message is immediately screened and not further processed or transmitted. On the other hand, if a V2X message is deemed relevant, the V2X message is transmitted from the receiving unit 42 to the bus interface 44 of the antenna module 40 which transmits the V2X message to the vehicle bus 50 . In this case, vehicle bus 50 transmits V2X messages to bus interface 34 of control unit 30 . In the data processing unit 32 of the control unit 30, the V2X messages may suitably be used here, for example, based on the information contained in the V2X messages, whether the vehicle 10 is at increased risk of an accident, or other Calculate whether to start the action or not. V2X messages may be transmitted to other components of vehicle 10 .

If, for example, an execution taking place in the data processing unit 32 of the control unit 30 wants to send a V2X message, the execution transmits the V2X message to the bus interface 34 of the control unit 30 . From there, the V2X message reaches vehicle bus 50 , which carries the V2X message to bus interface 44 of antenna module 40 . The V2X messages then reach the transmitting unit 43 and are converted into radio signals by the transmitting unit 43 without modification. Here, V2X messages are transmitted via antenna 46 . Therefore, transmission of V2X messages may also occur over the same channel on which V2X messages are received.

In a V2X message to be sent, location information is typically included, especially in its header. This position information may be read by the antenna module 40 and used for the preprocessing described above.

A higher integration density of the control unit 30 is basically possible due to the electronics contained in the data processing unit 32 through the decoupling of the high-frequency structures contained essentially in the receiving unit 42 and the transmitting unit 43 . It may also perform other tasks.

Satellite navigation module 47 is configured to receive satellite navigation signals from satellites 20, 21, 22, 23 using antenna 46 and convert them into location information. In this case, this location information may in particular be transmitted via the vehicle bus 50 to the control unit 30, where the position of the vehicle 10 is determined. This location may be used consistently for many other functions, especially for vehicles. This location may be inserted into the V2X message to be sent.

The time base unit 48 is arranged to extract time information from the satellites 20, 21, 22, 23 signals. It concerns here in particular the known 1PPS (1 pulse per second) signal, each indicating the start of a new second. This may synchronize the internal clock of the time base unit 48 . In this case, the internal clock serves here as the time reference for the entire vehicle 10, which is synchronized with the other components of the vehicle 10 using the AUTOSAR protocol.

It should be noted that generally V2X communication may be understood as direct communication between vehicles and/or between vehicles and infrastructure in particular. Thus, for example, it may relate to V2V communication or inter-vehicle infrastructure communication. As far as vehicle-to-vehicle communication is concerned in the present application, this communication basically takes place without a medium, e.g. may be performed within the scope of V2V communication, which is distinct from the processing of For example, V2X communication may be performed according to IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609 standards or ESTI ITS. V2X communication may also be referred to as C2X communication. Some areas may be referred to as C2C (Car-to-Car) or C2I (Car-to-Infrastructure). On the other hand, the present invention does not explicitly exclude V2X communication using a medium, for example via mobile communication networks.

The claims appended hereto do not disclaim further protection.

If a feature or group of features is found during the prosecution of the application to be non-essential, at least one independent claim no longer comprising that feature or group of features may be requested by the applicant without delay. be done. In this case, the amended independent claim may be, for example, a subcombination of the claims as of the filing date or a subcombination of the claims as of the filing date that is limited by additional features. It should be understood that such newly amended claims or combinations of features are disclosed concurrently with the disclosure of the present application.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the configurations, features and variations of the invention described in various forms or example embodiments and/or shown in the drawings can be combined with each other in any way. Individual or multiple features are optionally interchangeable. It should be understood that combinations of features resulting from these are simultaneously published by the disclosure of the present application.

Reference in a dependent claim should not be construed as a disclaimer of obtaining independent and substantive protection for the features recited in the dependent claim to which it is based. Also, these features can be arbitrarily combined with other features.

Features disclosed in the specification alone, or features disclosed in the specification or claims only in conjunction with other features, may have essentially independent significance to the invention. Accordingly, these features may be included in the claims separately to distinguish them from the prior art.
In addition, the present invention may also include the following aspects:
1. In the antenna module (40),
- an antenna (46);
- a receiving unit (42) connected with said antenna (46) and configured to receive V2X messages using said antenna (46);
- a bus interface (44) connected with said receiving unit (42) for outputting V2X messages to the vehicle bus (50);
- an antenna, wherein said receiving unit (42) is adapted to pre-process said received V2X messages, so that only part of said received V2X messages are output to said vehicle bus (50); in the module (40)
- said receiving unit (42) is adapted to perform said pre-processing based at least on location information and/or time information;
An antenna module (40), characterized in that:
2. - said antenna module (40) has a transmitting unit (43) connected with said antenna (46) and said bus interface (44) for transmitting V2X messages received by said bus interface (44) to said transmitting unchanged using an antenna (46);
1 above. Antenna module (40) according to claim 1.
3. - said transmitting unit (43) together with said receiving unit (42) constitutes a transceiver unit;
2. above. Antenna module (40) according to claim 1.
4. - said location and/or time information is obtained from a V2X message to be transmitted;
1 above. ~3. Antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
5. - said antenna module (40) comprises a satellite navigation module (47);
1 above. ~ 4. Antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
6. - said antenna module (40) comprises a time reference unit (48) adapted to manage a reference time synchronized with satellite signals and to supply said reference time via said vehicle bus (50);
1 above. ~ 5. Antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
7. - said antenna module (40) is configured as an intelligent antenna module (40),
1 above. ~6. Antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
8. - said antenna module (40) is also configured as a complete unit for vehicle roof mounting,
1 above. ~7. Antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
9. In the vehicle control unit (30),
- a bus interface (34) for connecting with the vehicle bus (50);
- via said vehicle bus (50), 1. above; ~8. A control unit (30) comprising a data processing unit (32) configured to process V2X messages received by the antenna module (40) according to any one of the preceding claims.
10. - said data processing unit (32) is arranged to transmit V2X messages over said vehicle bus (50) for transmission to said antenna module (40);
9. above. A control unit (30) according to claim 1.
11. - said data processing unit (32) is configured to determine the location using satellite navigation and/or vehicle sensor systems and insert it into V2X messages to be transmitted;
10 above. A control unit (30) according to claim 1.
12. - said data processing unit (32) and/or other components of said control unit (30) are also configured for other tasks as V2X communication and navigation,
9. above. ~ 11. A control unit (30) according to any one of the preceding claims.
13. in the vehicle (10)
- above 1. ~8. An antenna module (40) according to any one of
- 9 above. ~12. a control unit (30) according to any one of
- a vehicle bus (50);
- a vehicle (10), wherein said antenna module (40) and said control unit (30) are connected with said vehicle bus (50) using their respective bus interfaces (34, 44).
14. - said antenna module (40) is as described in 6 above. or 6. above. wherein some components of said vehicle (10) are synchronized with said reference time of said antenna module (40),
13 above. A vehicle (10) according to claim 1.

Claims (6)

In the antenna module (40),
- an antenna (46);
- a receiving unit (42) connected with said antenna (46) and configured to receive V2X messages using said antenna (46);
- a bus interface (44) connected with said receiving unit (42) for outputting V2X messages to the vehicle bus (50);
- an antenna, wherein said receiving unit (42) is adapted to pre-process said received V2X messages, so that only part of said received V2X messages are output to said vehicle bus (50); in the module (40)
- said receiving unit (42) is adapted to perform said pre-processing based at least on location and/or time information;
a V2X message sent from a control unit (30) connected to the bus interface (44) via the vehicle bus (50) to the bus interface (44) via the vehicle bus (50); Said antenna module (40) is connected with said antenna (46) and said bus interface (44) for receiving by bus interface (44) and transmitting without modification using said antenna (46) , a transmitting unit (43), and said location and/or time information is obtained from a V2X message to be transmitted. - said transmitting unit (43) together with said receiving unit (42) constitutes a transceiver unit;
Antenna module (40) according to claim 1. - said antenna module (40) comprises a satellite navigation module (47);
Antenna module (40) according to claim 1 or 2. - said antenna module (40) comprises a time reference unit (48) adapted to manage a reference time synchronized with satellite signals and to supply said reference time via said vehicle bus (50);
Antenna module (40) according to any one of claims 1-3. in a vehicle (10) - an antenna module (40) according to any one of claims 1 to 4;
- a bus interface (34) for connecting with the vehicle bus (50) and connected with the receiving unit (42) of the antenna module (40) via said vehicle bus (50), using the receiving unit (42) a control unit (30) comprising a data processing unit (32) configured to process received V2X messages ;
- a vehicle bus (50); - said antenna module (40) and said control unit (30) are connected with said vehicle bus (50) using their respective bus interfaces (34, 44); A vehicle (10). - the antenna module (40) is configured as claimed in claim 4, wherein some components of the vehicle (10) are synchronized with the reference time of the antenna module (40);
A vehicle (10) according to claim 5 .

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